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He turns to look at me again, his face tight with frustration. He looks me up and down and it’s obvious he’s weighing up his options – argue with me and waste time or do as I ask and face the possibility of being slower. Finally he releases an exasperated sigh. “Fine,” he states in a clipped voice, “since you are already dressed in your Khaleeni uniform and are readyto go then let’s make haste. I’ll waken Barra, if you and the commander would be so kind as to grab some provisions from the kitchens we can meet at the stables as soon as you’re ready.”

I nod. “Very well then, it is agreed. We shall meet at the stables forthwith.”

***

“Greetings, Queen Elinor,” Barra says in a soft voice as Kes and I arrive at the stables. He already has four horses saddled and ready to go. However, I immediately note the absence of Aaran.

“Greetings, sire,” I reply, “Pray tell, where is your fellow soldier, Aaran?”

Barra looks away, as if slightly embarrassed. “He has already left, your Majesty. He felt time was of the essence and he needed to leave as soon as possible in order to pick up the prince’s trail.”

A feeling of anger flashes through me and now it's my turn to be frustrated. I suspected when he suggested Kes and I go to pick up some provisions it was a trick, and instead of trusting my intuition I fell for it. “And pray tell,” I ask, “how are we to pick up his trail? How are we to know in what direction he went?”

Barra grins. “That’s not a problem, Your Majesty. He intends to start his search at the rear gate, the place where the prince was last seen. Should he pick up the trail from there, he will leave signs for us to follow. If he is unable to pick up the prince’s trail from there he will wait for us.”

“Fine,” I say in a terse voice as I mount Maneeha. “Follow me. There's a shortcut from here to the rear gate.”

We follow the outer path of the castle to the rear gate and, as I expected, Aaran is nowhere to be seen. I watch as Barra looks for a sign to tell us in which direction he has gone and try to temper my annoyance at Aaran. I have no idea how he expectsus to follow him with only the faintest of moonlight to aid our eyes. However, miraculously, it seems Barra has found the sign he left for us.

“This way,” he announces and Kes and I immediately fall in behind him.

We have travelled a few miles and are in the thick of the forest when the path ahead splits and Barra needs to dismount and look more closely for Aaran’s sign. I also dismount and join him. “I’ve no idea how you’ve managed to find his signs thus far with only the barest amount of moonlight available to you,” I say, as his eyes scour the ground around us.

“I'm used to it, Your Majesty,” he replies. “Both Aaran and I have trained extensively in tracking at night and I’m accustomed to his system of leaving signs to mark out his trail. It's much easier when you know what to look for. Aaran has the harder part of it trying to track the prince.”

“Yes,” I muse, “I cannot understand how he is doing it, especially in the darkness.”

“That's where his unique abilities set him apart from other men,” Barra says in a low voice, but I don’t miss the slightly reverential tone. He stops. “Ah, here we are,” he says as he points at a rudimentary arrow made from sticks and stones pointing in the direction of the left path.

We quickly mount our horses again and follow the arrow. “Tell me, Queen Elinor, where does this path lead?” Barra asks.

“It soon ends as a defined path and turns more into a trail, getting less defined the further we go, but it will take us through the Craglands and ultimately to the foothills of the Black Mountain.”

“Is that the mountain one can see from the castle? The one whose peak was recently dusted with snow?”

“Yes. That’s the one.”

“Ah,” is all he says in response and then falls into silence.

“Ah?” I ask.

He turns to look at me in the dark. “I fear that is where the prince is going.”

“Why do you think that?” I ask.

He drops his head slightly and there’s no mistaking the sorrow in his voice when he answers.

“Because he may think it’s home. He may think it’s the white mountain that lies behind the castle in Ellerban. That’s where Aaran and I would find him before…”

His voice fades away and it takes a moment for his words to sink in. “Wait,” I say, “the prince has fled like this before?”

He is silent for a few moments but then, in a quiet voice, he answers, “Yes.”

“How many times?” I ask.

His head falls a little further towards his chest as if he is reluctant to say any more. “Three.”

“And did you have to bring him back each time or did he make his way back on his own?”